# Why do older church bells operate that way? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 2, 2005, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-older-church-bells-operate-that-way/297441 "2005-04-02T20:59:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dnooman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/839c29/32.png) [@dnooman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dnooman)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2005, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-older-church-bells-operate-that-way/297441/1 "2005-04-02T20:59:55Z")
While watching some Pope funeral stuff, I saw one of those old church bells that swing back and forth with the striker? in the center on a pivot. This seems terribly inefficient for such an ancient device. Why swing the whole bell with that pulley system when you could make a much simpler device that swings only the striker? Is it an acoustics thing? ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2005, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-older-church-bells-operate-that-way/297441/2 "2005-04-02T21:15:05Z")
I’d think it to be mechanics-as the moving bell when striking the striker is in free movement. If the striking mechanism brought the striker into contact with a stationary bell, less energy would be transferred, converting to less ding and dong. ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2005, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-older-church-bells-operate-that-way/297441/3 "2005-04-02T21:21:22Z")
There’s also an acoustical issue. A bell with mouth facing downward will radiate less sonic energy to the surrounding community than one which swings side to side. ---
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2005, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-older-church-bells-operate-that-way/297441/4 "2005-04-02T21:50:01Z")
It looks cool when it moves. Yeah, that’s it. ---
**Author:** ![yBeayf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/e274bd/32.png) [@yBeayf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yBeayf)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2005, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-older-church-bells-operate-that-way/297441/5 "2005-04-02T21:53:08Z")
Russian bells only swing the striker, and I don’t think anybody can accuse them of being less acoustically powerful. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2005, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-older-church-bells-operate-that-way/297441/6 "2005-04-02T22:43:15Z")
And bells in Asia are struck from the outside with a big hammer. And they are pretty damn loud too. We need a campanologist! ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2005, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-older-church-bells-operate-that-way/297441/7 "2005-04-02T22:49:13Z")
One word - rhythm. A huge heavy bell swinging around an axis is very easy to ring at a steady slow pulse. (Well, not _very_ easy, but easier than with the striker!) This is essential when ringing a peal of eight or more bells. I’m also suspecting another reason, which is quality and consistency of sound: it seems to me fairly easy to set up such a bell so the striker always falls as to hit the bell with the optimum speed to sound loudly, without distorting the sound. A striker-driven system would be harder to regulate. > [@](#): > > There’s also an acoustical issue. A bell with mouth facing downward will radiate less sonic energy to the surrounding community than one which swings side to side. I don’t think this is the case - I’m pretty sure the sound emanates from the exterior of the bell as much as the internal cavity. ---
**Author:** ![SparrowHawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac8455/32.png) [@SparrowHawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SparrowHawk)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2005, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-older-church-bells-operate-that-way/297441/8 "2005-04-02T23:05:24Z")
**Seige**! Paging **Seige**! Do you still ring? Can you come in and explain the acoustical differences between chiming, clocking and ringing? I think it has something to do with both pieces of metal (the clapper and the bell) being in motion when struck, rather than the direction the mouth is facing. ---
**Author:** ![SparrowHawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac8455/32.png) [@SparrowHawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SparrowHawk)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2005, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-older-church-bells-operate-that-way/297441/9 "2005-04-02T23:08:36Z")
Aagh! Pardon the typo, **Siege**! She’ll never be able to find and respond to a misspelled name. _hangs head in shame_ ---
**Author:** ![ltfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@ltfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ltfire)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2005, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-older-church-bells-operate-that-way/297441/10 "2005-04-03T00:47:04Z")
Algonkquin was the local bell ringer for the town. Rather than swing the bell or the striker, Al would run at the bell at full speed, and ring the bell with his head. One day, Al had a sinus infection, and as he made his run at the bell, he miscalculated, and sailed out the porthole, and landed dead in the street. The Townspeople gathered around, all inquiring who he was. An old woman chimed in and said…Don’t know who he is, but… Say it with me folks… His face rings a bell… ---
**Author:** ![Kiminy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Kiminy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiminy)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2005, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-older-church-bells-operate-that-way/297441/11 "2005-04-03T03:15:09Z")
I was a change bell ringer when I was in high school. With good timing and control, the swinging bell can be controlled to ring at _exactly_ the moment you want it to ring, to a great extent. You can’t play melodies, per se, but you can ring the bells at specific rhythms with specific intervals between rings. The swinging bell also produces more noise than just moving the clapper, since gravity can pull the clapper down against the bell more easily than a ringer under the bell can swing the clapper back and forth. ---
**Author:** ![USCDiver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uscdiver/32/354_2.png) [@USCDiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/USCDiver)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2005, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-older-church-bells-operate-that-way/297441/12 "2005-04-03T04:00:04Z")
> [@ltfire](#): > > \ > > His face rings a bell… Days later his twin Halgonkquin came to apply for the newly vacated position. After the lengthy application process, he got the job. Unfortunately he came to the same fate as the previous bell ringer. As the Townspeople gathered around his body, one of them asked, “Were they identical twins?” Say it with me folks… “Must be,” said another “because he’s a dead ringer for his brother.” ---
**Author:** ![ltfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@ltfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ltfire)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2005, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-older-church-bells-operate-that-way/297441/13 "2005-04-03T21:10:59Z")
> [@USCDiver](#): > > Days later his twin Halgonkquin came to apply for the newly vacated position. After the lengthy application process, he got the job. Unfortunately he came to the same fate as the previous bell ringer. As the Townspeople gathered around his body, one of them asked, “Were they identical twins?” > Say it with me folks… > > “Must be,” said another “because he’s a dead ringer for his brother.” Abbott and Costello ``` Martin and Lewis ``` Laural and Hardy USC AND LT (we’ll be here all week) 😃 ---
**Author:** ![DougC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@DougC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DougC)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2005, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-older-church-bells-operate-that-way/297441/14 "2005-04-03T21:17:18Z")
- - - You are all wrong. The purpose of having the bell swing and the striker stationary is to help prevent damage to the bell from being hit too hard. ~ ---
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2005, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-older-church-bells-operate-that-way/297441/15 "2005-04-03T21:58:54Z")
Either way, the striker is going to hit it. Unless the force of the bell against the striker isn’t as great with that method, I don’t see how you’re going to prevent damage using it this way. ---
**Author:** ![Topologist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/topologist/32/3208_2.png) [@Topologist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Topologist)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2005, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-older-church-bells-operate-that-way/297441/16 "2005-04-03T23:03:38Z")
> [@dnooman](#): > > Is it an acoustics thing? I was also a change ringer in me youth (Boston, Chicago, then Boston again). Change ringing bells are hung to swing full circle from mouth up one way to mouth up again, back and forth. The clapper hits the bell when it’s mouth up and out, on its way to upright. (And, the clapper hits the _leading_ edge of the bell, not the trailing as most people expect. The clapper is hung so that it swings faster than the bell.) I was told that this mechanism was developed to produce the loudest sound. Not having done a controlled experiment, I can’t vouch for the validity of the claim. (My change ringing books being packed in a box in the attic, I can’t provide a cite at the moment.) > [@ParentalAdvisory](#): > > Either way, the striker is going to hit it. Unless the force of the bell against the striker isn’t as great with that method, I don’t see how you’re going to prevent damage using it this way. What I’ve been told (and, again, not having done the experiment, I can’t vouch for the truth of this) is that, if a bell is hit by a clapper or hammer that is then held against the bell, the bell is likely to crack. I’m not sure about the physics, but something about the hammer interfering with the vibration pattern of the bell and causing a buildup of energy at the point of contact. There is suspicion that the Liberty Bell was cracked this way. In a swinging bell, the clapper bounces off the bell after striking it (then rests gently on it), allowing the bell to vibrate freely.